Challenges
by trufflemores
Summary: Sometimes Blaine has nightmares. Kurt and he are both learning to cope with them. Klaine. COMPLETE.


**Disclaimer**: I do not own Glee or any of its characters; Ryan Murphy and Co. hold that honor. I'm simply writing this for fun, not profit.

Kurt had never fully mastered the art of knowing what to do when Blaine had a nightmare.

Part of it was the sheer violence of the affair: Blaine would curl into his pillow and _scream, _a noise that would wrench Kurt out of the deepest sleep imaginable in a heartbeat. Going from happily ensconced in his own dreams to terrifyingly thrust into the real world was always a dizzying shift of perspective. Thankfully, Kurt had always been good at thinking on his feet, pinpointing the source of the scream – Blaine – and the reason for it – a nightmare, usually still in progress although occasionally just the shuddery aftermath – and work from there.

Sometimes Blaine needed space to breathe, to calm down on his own, and Kurt would give it to him, rubbing his back until he deigned to roll over and let himself be wrapped up in Kurt's arms. Otherwise he would lie silent for a long time before emitting a thin groan of dismay at the fact that it had happened _again _and apologize profusely as he rolled over and nuzzled into Kurt's embrace. And on some occasions he just clung to Kurt with a sort of desperate _need._

Kurt didn't always know the subject matter of the nightmares. Blaine rarely wanted to talk about them, in the heat of the moment, and he never needed more than comforting noise and a hug to come back to himself. On the worst nights – the nights that left them both feeling a little ragged around the edges from sleeplessness and residual fear – Kurt would get up and make them a batch of warm milk, not because he needed it but because it was a welcome distraction, and the milk tended to knock them both out, anyway.

Nightmares were an infrequent visitor to their household, but they were present, and Kurt could never fully forget the source material for many of them. He didn't need to ask to know that physical violence was often a part of it: Blaine flinched whenever he reached out too soon or too quickly, shying away from his hands or shuddering when they touched his back for the first time, questing and alarmed. Kurt hated that violence was a part of them at all, that there was any reason for Blaine to shudder awake with a startled gasp and then lie restless in Kurt's arms for hours afterward.

Early on, Kurt had been fooled into thinking that Blaine had actually gone back to sleep after a few minutes or so of reassuring croons. That was until he found Blaine one afternoon mid-nap, dead to the world on the couch and snoring softly, and he realized that Blaine asleep and Blaine feigning sleep were different in subtle but undeniable ways. There was a tenseness about Blaine's shoulders that failed to ease when he lie still but sleepless in Kurt's arms, and he'd started to stay up with him regardless of how long it took for that tension to dissipate, unable to keep his fingers from trying so diligently to rub away the ache.

It would never not make his heart hurt to see Blaine caught in the throes of a nightmare or fresh out of one, but it relieved him to be able to provide the solace that Blaine needed afterward. Whatever position they had begun in would always end up even more tangled post-nightmare: a leg tucked between Kurt's and an arm wrapped around his waist, face buried against Kurt's shoulders as they listened to each other's breathing in the silence, too tired to talk.

The nights were long, but the mornings were a welcome reprieve after them. There would be murmured conversations, attempting to address issues that were difficult to name and even harder to heal. There would be gentler touches and lingering glances, the _are you okays? _and _how can I helps?_ unspoken but certain.

Kurt never knew exactly how to respond after Blaine had had a nightmare, but they were learning, and even knowing that he was imperfect was still tolerable for him because it was good enough for Blaine.

And so when he heard the near noiseless patter of footsteps in the kitchen, he got up and joined Blaine at the stove, hooking his chin over his shoulder and his arms around his waist as they heated up the milk together.

Their lives would always be full of tangles, bearing fruit and thorns alike. Kurt just longed to soothe the bruises and scrapes that accompanied the nastier thorns more effectively. Even so, the way that Blaine leaned back into his embrace with a soft sigh, relaxed and trusting, was its own reward, erasing some of the lingering tension in Kurt's own spine.

He needn't be perfect to be appreciated by Blaine. He simply needed to be there, and that was a promise that Kurt was willing to keep.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, wanting to be more, to push the nightmares away entirely, but settling for a kiss to the back of Blaine's shoulder that made his eyelids flutter shut.

"Don't be," Blaine murmured. "You should be asleep." He stirred the pot absentmindedly, his movements slow with sleep.

Tucking his arms more tightly around Blaine's waist, Kurt retorted, "I want to be with you."

Making a soft noise of disbelief, Blaine didn't respond at once, at last sighing and saying, "I really don't deserve you."

"Of course you do," Kurt insisted, squeezing him tightly. "I love you. Okay? I love you and _all _of your imperfections, including those that are completely out of your control. Everyone has nightmares, honey. It doesn't make you a lesser person just because yours keep you up at night sometimes."

"Mm." Seeming doubtful, Blaine leaned back into his embrace a little more, hunching his shoulders forward to do so. "I just wish I could make it better. For you."

Kissing the back of his neck lightly – a gentle, affectionate gesture – Kurt admitted on a sigh, "Me, too, B. Me, too."

But, full of warm milk and tucking themselves into each other's arms, Kurt knew that they would manage, regardless.

It was what they did, what they were good at.

Because they would continue to love each other regardless of the challenges, and that was enough.


End file.
